Plaza gets lift from failed Fontainebleau
What would have happened to the Plaza had someone finished the bankrupt Fontainbleau?
After a pause while looking over the carpeting, furniture and wall paper originally intended for what was to be an opulent, $2.9-billion Strip resort, Tony Santo, the CEO of PlayLV Gaming, which manages the Plaza and holds the gaming license, replied, “That is too difficult to answer.”
“We talked about that one time over drinks,” added chief marketing officer Steve Rosen. “We finally just concluded that we are really lucky.”
Santo was retained as a consultant to the Plaza in late 2008, as the deepening recession pushed operations into losses. He quickly concluded that the hotel’s reputation at the time, as a place to be endured because it was a cheap sleep, merely paved the road to oblivion.
He had drawn up a more modest renovation plan than the one nearing completion, with the rooms due to reopen on Sept. 1. But the collapse of the Fontainebleau opened up the opportunity to buy enough leftover furniture and fixtures for all 1,037 Plaza rooms at pennies on the dollar.
As a result, the $35 million project launched last November included less than $2 million to outfit the rooms, Santo said.
In a typical guest room, only the bed, TV, linens and black-and-white photos from the Plaza in decades past came from other sources.
“We even got the Fontainebleau wall safes,” he said, not to mention bathroom fixtures.
The suites are much the same story, down to the marble-lined bathrooms. The Plaza had to buy some glass-topped tables elsewhere, “and I’m a little unhappy that the Fontainebleau didn’t have any,” Santo joked.
The project eventually expanded to cover all public areas. The identities of three new eating places and a bar will be announced shortly. They likely won’t include a buffet. The Firefly restaurant, housed in the UFO-shaped structure in front, will be replaced by as-yet unidentified steak and Italian restaurants.
“This budget 6 motel has all of a sudden become a beautiful resort,” said Rosen. “I think it is really going to surprise people.”
But so might the prices. Santo projects that nightly room rates will run from the mid-$40s to well over $100 at busy times, close to double that of the old Plaza.
Basic shelter for people seeking the least expensive in everything made the Plaza’s reputation for years. Among 551 ratings posted with tripadvisor.com, the largest number fell into the “average” category and “terrible” outnumbered “excellent” by a three-to-one margin.
“I couldn’t care less if I jumped on a basic, simple bed or a luxurious one made with fine fabric and surrounded with fancy furniture,” wrote one guest last September, citing the low prices as the main attraction.
Santo’s goal is to get the Plaza up to midrange for amenities and price.
“We think by getting a customer more interested in a quality product we will get people more likely to spend on food and beverage and gaming,” Santo said. “We are also going after the business customer, small conventions and group meetings. We have had the meeting space, but we didn’t have the room product to go with it.”
In the lobby, the design mixes elements from the old Plaza and with patches of custom-designed carpet and a large, vintage photo of chorus girls. The circular entry remains, but the pavement will soon be replaced with a stamped concrete pattern.
“We wanted it to look traditional, cheerful and a little fun, but not overbearing and stuffy,” he said.
But none of the old Plaza can be found in the sleek new guest rooms.
“Nobody wants to be reminded of the past there,” Rosen said.
Contact reporter Tim O’Reiley at toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.
